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Oroville, CA (KCRA) — A Gilroy couple is moving out of California with very little, choosing to donate their home furnishings, appliances and other essentials to firefighters who lost their homes in the Camp Fire.
Kim Ringeisen has 15 years of search and rescue experience and helped in the town of Paradise for more than a week.
“I was searching about 100 homes in Paradise,” Ringeisen said. “I’m also a combat veteran, but this was unimaginable. We had to rewrite ways of doing things and figure out new ways to take care of what we need to take care of out there.”
When returning home, he felt compelled to do more. That led him to a KCRA3 article about a firefighter who lost his home in the Camp Fire.
“I was looking for a firefighter with a family I could donate to, and then I came onto your site,” Ringeisen said. “We decided to donate all of our household goods to the firefighters. So this is all the things we have donated, including handmade dolls that my wife makes.”
Ringeisen and his wife are moving to North Carolina, where he hopes to use his experience in an emergency management role.
Ringeisen connected with Oroville firefighters and donated enough to fill a 26-foot storage truck. The items will help dozens of firefighters and families who lost their homes.
“We want to turnkey everybody back up in their lives, so they can put this behind them and move forward,” Ringeisen said. “We didn’t lose our sentimental things. We didn’t lose something to a fire very abruptly. So, I think it’s good if we can donate everything we have. We’ll start over. They’re starting over. So, I think it’s going to be a good thing, a good memory for us in how we helped.”
The drop-off was at Best Self Storage of Feather River Boulevard in Oroville.
On Saturday, the business is hosting Operation Camp Fire Blessings, a toy donation drive, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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